Fourteen Happy Cats

My wife and I have been involved with a cat charity in the Northern isles for almost a decade. Our home is a two bedroom cottage to which we have added a 40X20 yard cat run to keeo our 14 cats happy and safe. It can be a pain having a hatch open into the outside world all the time, but some of our cats never got the hang of a cat flap. Despite our living in the North of Scotland, we only close the flap when bitterly cold Northerly winds blow through it in mid winter and then only for a few hours or through the night.

We wanted a cat run that would last and we accomplishes this by digging and concreting in concrete security posts with their angled sections facing inwards. As the rock here is within inches of the surface, a powerful Valtra 4X4 tractor was brought in with a steel PTO drive auger. Even then the tractor managed to wear out an auger. The main part of the fence is galvanised chain link supported on horizontal wires kept in tension by raddles. This was topped by nylon netting, similarly supported and scaffolding protection netting, secured to the ground with stainless tent pegs prevented the cats or small animals from squeezing underneath. The nylon netting at the top lasted through one winter but needed to be replaced - we opted for 2cm galvanised steel mesh, which is still holding up after three years of brutal storms. Grass and weeds soon grew into the scaffolding mesh, making a permanent obstacle to the cats and small animals. The run proved impervious to escape until we adoptedd a pair of young Toms from a farm in the next parish - they proved remarkably adept at escaping. We watched them escape and blocked each escape route with more mesh, but they kept finding new routes out. The solution was a radio frequency antenna all the way round the outside of the run which connected to a control box indoors - this triggers collars worn by the cats. The system can be set for to allow the cat to get within a user defined distance of the wire and gives the cat a warning beep, followed electric shocks, starting with a very mild one and then ramping up. This isn't a cheap system, but it has proven 100% reliable and effective. If we let one of the Toms out without his collar out he's out within minutes.

In such a small area it was inevitable there would be friction between some of the cats. Some products available on the market helped calm some of the more territorial and aggressive male cats down. The two we had most success with were Bach's Flower Remedy and Feliway. I can't recommend both products enough. When we have failed to use them, problems, paricularly persecution and how to stop a cat from urinating in the house have [reared their ugly heads. It was necessary to adopt a number of strategies to overcome this. First we ensured that there were enough cat litter trays and that they were located appropriately where the cats would use them. The trays use non scented, wood based cat litter and are scooped daily and cleaned with detergent, bleach and enzyme based cleaner every three to four days. Any inappropriate urination is cleared up immediately, again using using enzyme based cleaner. Sometimes a cat will opt to pee in a specific place, most often a female cat in a corner - although we have tried putting down double sided tape and baking foil, the best solution by far has proven to be putting a food or biscuit bowl in the location - cats avoid peeing where they eat. We took out all the carpet and replaced it with wood effect linoleum sealed against the skirting with bathroom sealant and painted the walls with waterproof emulsion.

We ensure there are always enough food bowls down with a variety of food and that these are situated far enough apart that the cats can eat in peace. Two secondary feeding stations elswhere give the cats the option of biscuits and water whenever they want them. It's important to give every cat some attention every day to make them feel happy and wanted. The cat run gives them the option of going outside to play or relax at any time of the day and night without harming birds and other wildlife. Our only problem is that moving is out of the question - we can't bring ourselves to go through all that again!

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